ould not see
the line that marked the water-level. His head swam and his legs shook,
and calling a fireman to keep watch, he sat down in the coal. He wanted
to get to the awning, out of the dew, but could not, and leaning against
the rough blocks, he went to sleep.

In the morning, he knew the fever that bothered him now and then had
returned. For all that, he must hold out and he began his labor in the
burning sun. When the flood tide rippled about the wreck it was obvious
the pump was getting the water down. The bows lifted, and starting the
winches, they hauled aft the ropes. If they could keep it, before long
they might heave her from the sand.

It was a time of stubborn effort and crushing strain. Some of the men
were sick and all had lost their vigor. The fierce sun had not burned
but bleached their skin; their blood was poisoned by the miasma the land
breeze blew off at night. For all that, Cartwright's promise was they
should share his reward and somehow they held on.

At length, in the scorching heat one afternoon when the flood tide began
to run, they hauled the hulk and tug abaft the wreck's engine-room and
made the great ropes fast. If Lister's calculations were accurate, the
pump had thrown out enough water, and the buoyancy of the other craft
would lift the wreck's stern. If not--but he refused to think about
this.

The sea breeze had dropped and the smoke of the engine went straight up.
There was not a line on the glittering lagoon. The sea looked like
melted silver; one felt it give out light and heat. The men's eyes ached
and the intolerable sun pierced their double hats and dulled their
brains. When all was ready, they waited and watched the sandy water
creep up _Arcturus'_ plates until the ropes stretched and groaned and
the hulk began to list. On the wreck's other side, the tug's mast and
funnel slanted.

_Arcturus_ was not yet afloat, and the big wire-ropes, running beneath
her bilge, held down the helping craft. The ends were made fast by hemp
lashings and somebody had put an ax beside the post. For all that,
Lister did not think Brown would give the order to cut; he himself would
not. If they did not float Arcturus now, she must remain in the sand for
good. He would hold on until the rising tide flowed across the tug.

In the meantime, he watched the pump. The engine carried a dangerous
load and the spouting discharge pipe was swollen. Throbbing and
rattling, she fought the water that held